Our View: More documentation for driver's license is sensible requirement

A Texas driver’s license doubles as an official identification card as well as a permit to operate a motor vehicle.

When an individual applies for such an important document, the state should have assurance the card will be issued to the true person the applicant claims to be.

The new driver’s license application policy passed by the Texas Legislature and recently put into effect makes perfect sense.

People applying for their first Texas driver’s license or for an identification card, will have to bring more documentation to the Texas Department of Public Safety before getting the license or ID card.

Birth certificates and Social Security cards are no longer sufficient to establish identity. Applicants now need two additional documents identifying the applicants’ names and addresses and proving they have lived in Texas for a minimum of 30 days.

And plan on bringing the original documents for birth certificates, Social Security cards and voter registration cards, according to Department of Public Safety Cpl. John Gonzales.

Remember, this is for new licenses only. When those who have current driver’s licenses or identification cards need to renew them, they will not be required to show the proof of residence.

But out-of-state applicants will have to present two documents proving they have lived a minimum of 30 days in Texas.

Will this make the process of getting a driver’s license more complicated? Of course. Will it add a bit more hassle to lives of good citizens? Yes.

But more significantly, it will make things more complicated for the lives of bad citizens.

For all of the fine people who move to Texas from another state and need to get a driver’s license here, there are are some showing up at the DPS offices who are not upstanding citizens. Not everyone who applies for a driver’s license truly has the name they are putting on the application.

When someone expects the state to provide them with a driver’s license or identification card, it's only appropriate the state, in return, expects something of them. And additional proof of their identities is a rather small thing to expect.

We realize some grumbling is going to occur about the new requirements. No one likes for things to become more complicated.

However, sometimes there is a sensible reason for adding complications, and that's the case with the new Texas driver’s license regulations.

It's obviously important to law enforcement officers for a person holding a driver’s license or DPS identification card to be properly identified and to really be that person.

But the importance goes far beyond just the law enforcement officers who have occasion to look at driver’s licenses and identification cards.

It's also important to banks and to businesses whose employees are trying to establish or confirm a person’s identity.

They all need to know an individual is the person whose name is on the card. We welcome the legislative decision that increases the likelihood of getting the correct names on driver’s licenses and identification cards.

At-a-glance

■ Our position: Requiring a person to verify his or her identity is something that occurs often — almost every day for some people — and driver’s licenses are the most common verifications used. It only makes sense for the state to take measures to make as certain as possible a person who holds a driver’s license or identification card is the true identity of the individual.

■ Why you should care: It's important to safety and economy to make sure people are who they say they are. Potentially dangerous people should not be able to hide behind an incorrect name on a driver’s license. Businesses that lose money on bad checks passed by people displaying bad driver’s licenses have to increase costs to their legitimate customers to make up for the losses.

■ For more information: Log on to our website, www.lubbockonline.com, and enter the words “new driver’s license regulations” in the search box.

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Just let the Driver's License or ID card be the voter registration card as well, then. Saves all the hassle on who's who, dead or alive, legal or illegal. Having a voter registration card with either of the forms of ID is simply redundant. Make the ID cards free of charge if you don't have a Driver's license.

No need for voter registration drives, endless problems and gripes by the political parties solved. They can move on .

I was born many many years ago in another state, and have no original birth certificate, just a copy certified by the local registrar. As for mortgage papers and utility bills, I rent and my utilities are included in my rent.

Good policy! About time this policy was established,as the article says," too many bad citizens out there". And also many illegal people from other countries who somehow manage to get a driving license. Hoorah for Texas!!

Driving and voting are different. The key requirement in Texas is you have automobile insurance. You can have all the id's in the world and if you have an accident in Texas, and don't have insurance, you are screwed.

Required documentation to get a driver's license. Well, unfortunately those requirements could be faked. Maybe not in Texas, but in other states. So if anyone wants to risk fines and imprisonment, they can give it the old college try--just to get a driver's license.

Now, let's pretend you are an illegal. What risks are you willing to take to get a fake driver's license? Well, if you don't have a car, the answer is none. Why would you risk exposure and deportation?

That leave us with photo-id's for voters. Let's see now, an illegal will need documents passing scrutiny to be able to vote or register to vote.

Where is the incentive to do so? How many illegals have been caught voting illegally and prosecuted? How much difference did it make in the outcome of the election?

Let's make this more extreme. Let's pretend you are an election worker. Old lady Smith comes in to vote, or just to register. You have known her all of your life. As an election official, you have allowed her to vote for a jillion years, with the lessened requirements. Are you prepared to deny her now? BTW, she is to old to drive, and she would need someone to drive her to Lubbock to get a photo-id.

This entire photo-id thing is a fear campaign conjured up by the conservatives. It is designed to lower the vote turn-out by American citizens who are eligible to vote.